Energy Use on the Beloit College Campus

Step 1 Collecting Data• Structural components determine a building’s heat loss and gain.

Step 2 - Calculating Loads:• The Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) calculates heating/cooling loads. This program uses slightly more complicated calculations than most “self-auditing” websites or books suggest.

Step 3 - Utilizing the Output Data:• WAP provides a summary of loads, making it easy to see the greatest energy losses. Data can also help when installing or replacing heating and cooling systems, preventing one from choosing a system that is either too small or unnecessarily large.

Energy Use on the Beloit College Campus

Bushnell Hall; Windows and doors are a significant source of heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer

Whitney Hall; Measurements of a building’s wall area are used, along with its construction materials, to calculate heat transmission

Beloit College Human Resources; A window’s orientation and shading affect incident solar radiation and impact the cooling load

World Affairs Center; Insulation in attics and walls reduces the rate of thermal transmission. Adding insulation can reduce the cost of both heating and cooling

Beloit College Human Resources; WAP uses many foundation characteristics to determine its impact on heating/cooling loads

Blaisdell Hall; Energy audits can assist in decision making when replacing or adding equipment to a house.

Heat Loss

Heat G

ain

72.9 kBtu/hr

1.2 kBtu/hr

37 kBtu/hr

9.1

kB

tu/h

r

From Walls

From Windows and Doors

From Floor

From Ceiling

Performing an Energy Audit:

Energy audits are used to assess a building’s energy use. We performed audits of heating and cooling loads in more than 30 campus buildings, generating data which helps determine cost-effectiveness of energy saving modifications

Building Load = ∑UAWall + ∑UAwindow + ∑UA attic+

∑UAfoundation + ∑ UA infiltration

*Where UA is equal to the conductance of a component

Beloit College Human Resources

Sierra Anseeuw, ‘11, and Grace Kellogg, ‘13, Beloit College Sustainability Fellows Program